A federal judge in Laredo on Tuesday ordered nearly 34 years in prison for Jose Isabel Tobias of Laredo. Investigators say Tobias was an organizer of the Laredo-based ring.
William Vallejo, who's an American but was living in Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, was sentenced to seven years in prison. Both men must also repay $41.9 million in laundered funds.
Investigators say the men conspired to use trucks to haul bulk quantities of cocaine from Texas to Georgia for sale. The drug payments were then sent back to Laredo and smuggled into Mexico.
Agents seized more than $7 million but found a ledger indicating the overall haul was about six times higher.
